Adapt for wintertime calorie burn

December 9th, 2008 at 06:40pm Mike DeDoncker

Lucky us. We’ve gotten our third — or is it fourth, already — blast of snow, and enough cold weather to make sure there is plenty of ice to go along with it.

This can put a real chill on outdoor workouts unless you don’t mind adapting to the conditions. And outdoor activities in winter can burn some serious calories while doing wonders for shaping and strengthening legs and glutes.

Here are some examples of calorie expenditures per hour for winter activities using a calculator found at www.fitday.com/webfit/exerciseinfopage.html and my information of 5-foot-9, 185 pounds and 60 years of age:

Ice skating (general) 423

Cross-country skiing (moderate speed 4-4.9 MPH and effort) 494

Downhill skiing (moderate effort) 353

Sledding, tobogganing, bobsledding or luging 423

Snowshoeing 494

Moving an ice house (including setup and drilling) 353

Snowmobiling 176

Of course, running and maybe even bicycling aren’t impossible in the snow. You could think of winter activities as seasonal cross-training.

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